Fig. 11.1.2 Operational decisions.There are many reasons why performance—speed of execution—is so important in the
operational environment. The main reason why performance is so important is that the
computer has been integrated into the day-to-day business of the running of the
corporation. When there is a problem with performance, the day-to-day business of the
corporation grinds to a halt.
In order to understand the importance of speed of transaction execution, consider the
following circumstances:
- In a bank, a bank teller must wait 60 seconds for a transaction to process. The bank teller and the
customer being served are both irritated. - In an airline reservation, the airline clerk must wait 60 seconds to conduct business across the
network. Long queues of angry travelers build up waiting for the system to finish processing. - In an ATM environment, customers drive away—angry—when the ATM machine takes 60 seconds to
complete a transaction. - On the Internet, when using a site, viewers go away when the site takes a long time in order to
Chapter 11.1: Operational Analytics: Response Time